Earlier this year, we teased the release of Wrong by Stockholm’s XIAO—a track described by the band as a dedication to “the neurodivergent freaks that don’t fit in anywhere, but aren’t considered sick enough to get help.” It resonated fast. The video dropped with a sharp message: those left out, navigating systems that neither see nor serve them.
Now the full-length, Control, is out on Twelve Gauge Records, and it hits even harder.
XIAO formed in 2019 and built their reputation through relentless live shows across Europe, including festivals like Ieper Fest and Alive & Well.
They’ve moved steadily through two raw EPs—Pain (2021) and Burn (2023)—and into something more confrontational. Recorded by Jörgen “Jugglo” Wall at Studio Kapsylen and mixed/mastered by Ben Jones (Pest Control), Control delivers 14 tracks in under 25 minutes. It’s short, sharp, and scathing.
The record opens with No Fiction, where Emelie Johannesson spits, “Don’t tell your viewpoint, I don’t want to hear it… These are our real lives, it’s no fiction.” That mood—anti-performative, sick of people speaking over lived realities—runs through the entire album. Servants goes straight for economic propaganda dressed as equality: “We are the servants, maids for the rich… New lower class subsidized by the state for the rich.”
Control draws a map of power and abuse, whether personal, social, or state-enforced. “It’s a question of control / Either you have it or you don’t,” guitarist and co-vocalist Daniel Pilsäter writes in the title track, tying deregulation, profiteering, and political complicity into a tight noose.
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There’s no sense of salvation here. In End of Times, Pilsäter tears into greenwashing and fascism with a grim scream: “Nazis rule on corporate greed / Europe’s burning / A big mistake.” Emelie hits the same emotional nerve in Twice the Rage, a song about structural inequality faced by women in hardcore and beyond: “I’ll never be whole, I’ll always be half… I’m carrying twice the rage.”
Guest vocals appear throughout. Sara Gregory (Entry, Lockslip) brings weight to Control, Shervin Ashrafi appears on Don’t Tell Them, Jens Kokko (Blood Sermon, Speedway) on Karoshi, Rami Betscha (Lifecrusher, XOXO) on End of Times, and Hanna Stjernlöf (Socialstyrelsen) appears on Servants. A guitar solo on closing track Twice the Rage was performed by Erik Lang Koppen (Existence).
Some of the fuel came from their surroundings. Daniel notes: “As in most of the world, hardcore post pandemic has been booming in Sweden, and shows are a lot of fun. Some of the songs on our new record are inspired by getting to see all our friends’ bands over the past couple of years.”
He adds that XIAO moves between cliques and scenes, often playing all-ages shows with bookers like Acting Out and Stockholm Straight Edge, and newer crews like Moral Panic in Gothenburg. Even Karlstad—Emelie’s hometown—has active bookers now, uniting crust and mosh scenes.
The band’s roots remain in the DIY scene. “Most shows we do are still DIY, and that’s where we have the most fun,” Daniel says. “Professional venues and bookers are getting more and more interested in hardcore here too, but that spirit is still strong.” Uppsala stands out in his mind. “The kids up there around Ungdomens hus, and the old guard at Femman seem to be going to each other’s shows and encouraging the other group. They have such a good vibe going.”
XIAO also wanted to namecheck bands they feel are carrying the torch: Invader (Kiruna), Slip (Malmö), Tjuvkoppla and Bulls Shitt (Gothenburg), Akimbo (Uppsala), Size Up (Jönköping), Feels Like Heaven and Blood Will Tell (Stockholm), Ceaseless (Borås), Spitball (Gothenburg), and Bled 4 Discipline (Örebro). Then there are the “hometown goats” like Existence, Vidro, and Speedway.
On the changing energy in the scene, Daniel reflects: “I think most people are happy more young blood comes in. We got so used to seeing the same faces with a couple of new ones showing up every year. I think the big difference now is that us oldies (30+) are more in touch with the younger scene, and go off for their bands instead of judging them.”
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The digital world, while necessary, still takes a backseat to what happens in the pit. “I think it’s the most boring part of having a band,” Daniel says about tech and promo, “but if you lean into it a little bit there are so many opportunities to reach new people that weren’t there before. I still believe in shows being the space hardcore happens. The internet is just a bonus.”
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If the internet is the bonus, Control is the payload. Songs like Karoshi and In the Weeds put labor front and center, dragging out the dull exhaustion of modern work: “All this pressure to create more nothingness / I pretend to be busy so I get to stay a little while longer.” Who Pays the Real Price asks the same question of justice: “Some punk ass bitch in a Tesla / Gets the pass on all that he’s done / But a child, bereaved of all chances, / Gets frisked when walking home.”
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Control comes with great exposure, confrontation, and release. It’s what XIAO has been building toward—ferocity with purpose, rage with clarity.
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